1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera having a strobe incorporated therein, and more precisely, it relates to a built-in strobe of a camera having a light emitter which is movable between an operative position and an inoperative (or retracted) position.
2. Description of Related Art
In a known single lens reflex camera having a strobe incorporated therein, a light emitter of the strobe is usually provided on a pentagonal prism, so as to move between an operative position (i.e., a light emitting or projected position) i.e., a and an inoperative position (retracted position). To hold the light emitter in the operative position, it is necessary to provide a special member, such as an elastic member (e.g., a spring), which biases the light emitter towards the operative position. The location of the elastic member between the light emitter and support thereof results in an unnecessarily wide strobe assembly, and accordingly, a wide camera body.
Furthermore, in a conventional strobe, the elastic member (spring) is engaged at its one end by an additional engaging member that is mounted to the light emitter. However, the provision of such an engaging member increases the number of camera components and complicates the assembly thereof.
When the strobe is used, the light emitter is moved to the operative position (light emitting position). If light is emitted from a light emitter which does not reach the operative position, an irregular photograph will likely result. To prevent this, a detection switch means which is turned OFF and ON when the light emitter is moved into and out of the retracted position, respectively, is provided to detect the position of the light emitter. In a known detection switch means, as shown in FIGS. 14A and 14B, a detection switch 74 is turned OFF by a switch pin 73 which is depressed by an operating member 72 provided on light emitter 71 of the strobe when the latter is in a retracted position. Conversely, when the light emitter 71 is in the operative position, the operating member 72 is disengaged from ,:the switch pin 73 to turn the detection switch 74 ON (FIGS. 16A and 16B).
However, in the known detection switch means mentioned above, the operating member 72 is disengaged from the switch pin 73 as soon as a light emitter 71 is moved from the retracted position toward the operative position, as shown in FIGS. 15A and 15B. Thus, the detection switch 74 is turned ON even when the light emitter 71 does not reach the operative position, or the vicinity thereof. Accordingly, the light emitter 71 which is not in the operative position emits strobe light, resulting in abnormal photographing. This occurs, for example, when the light emitter 71 comes into contact with an external strobe mounted to an accessory shoe for some reason, or a photographer's finger interferes with the movement of the light emitter 71.
It is also known to provide an LCD panel which indicates the states of various camera functions, such as the number of remaining film frames, set modes, etc., in a single lens reflex camera having a strobe incorporated therein. Since the LCD panel itself emits no light, it is necessary to provide a lighting device which is activated when an actuation button is manually actuated, so that information indicated in the LCD panel is visible even in the dark.
However, the presence of the manually actuated lighting button increases the number of buttons which must be manually actuated by a photographer, and thus, results in a complicated operation of the camera. It is theoretically possible to use one of the existing buttons of the camera as a manually actuated lighting button. However, this complicates the operation and increases the possibility of mis-operation.
An automatic lighting system is also known, in which a brightness is detected and compared with a predetermined reference value, and if the detected brightness is below the reference value, the lighting is automatically carried out. In this system, however, at least one detection of the brightness followed by the comparison with the reference value must be effected to determine whether the lighting is necessary, and accordingly, the mechanical and electronical detection and control systems become complicated.